Trying to change the world, one thought at a time

Pick Me! (Blog your way to PDC05)

The PDC team has put together a couple of contests for those who would love to attend the PDC, but who don’t have the budget to do so. Microsoft is going to send one blogger, and one coder to the PDC, all expenses paid. This is an awesome opportunity for two lucky individuals.

First, I would love to attend so that I can get a first-hand look at the latest platform and development technologies. That’s the core of my argument. I’m a geek, and I want to see the demos, attend sessions, and soak up as much information as my brain can absorb in the 4 days of the conference.

So, that’s the reason I want a free lunch, what does Microsoft get in return?

Assuming that there’s free wifi:

2-way blogging. I’ll blog short session highlights for each session that I attend. I won’t try to recreate the content of the session, but I will provide highlights & interesting information for those who can’t attend. I’ll also blog (hopefully constructive) critiques of presentations, content, and the venue. This will be realtime feedback that the PDC team and other attendees can use to make the PDC experience better each day. I’ll set up categories on my blog so that folks can subscribe to the content that is most relevant to them.

Citizen podcaster – I’ll have to work to get my gear setup properly for this one. The idea here is that I’ll do some low-tech podcasts (I’m thinking my Axim X50v with it’s built-in microphone) with attendees, presenters, and any Microsoft employees I can nab for 1 to 5 minutes. Short little tidbits for the community and for the PDC team.

In general, I would want to make the most of being there, convey relevant interesting information out to the blogosphere for those who are unable to attend, and provide useful feedback to the PDC team so that everyone has the best PDC experience possible.

Wow, I just read through this, and it looks like it’ll be a lot of work if I win. Sounds like fun!